19 - 25 July 2001

Four negotiation meetings till end of year

by Ivan Brincat

There will be four negotiation meetings under the Belgian Presidency in the second half of 2001.
The first meeting, at chief negotiator level, will be held next week on 27 July in Brussels.
There will then be another two meetings at chief negotiator level on 25-26 October and on 27-28 November.
The accession conference at a foreign minister level will be held in Brussels on 11 and 12 December. The Belgian presidency has said that it will carry on with the accession negotiations according to the enlargement road map adopted by the Nice European Council in December 2000.
The road map foresees negotiations on competition policy, transport policy, energy, taxation, customs union, agriculture (in particular veterinary and phytosanitary questions), fisheries, justice and home affairs and financial control. During the Belgian presidency, Malta will open the remaining chapter – agriculture – and is expected to close a number of other important chapters.
Malta wants to close six chapters u
nder this presidency to increase the tally
to 23.
The government is hoping to close justice and home affairs, social policy, fisheries, customs union and maybe two from free movement of capital, taxation and environment.
Under the Swedish presidency, Malta had opened 11 chapters and closed five.